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Wow. It’s almost a year since I posted anything here on the Postkiwi blog. I’ve come back to start a new series on books I’m reading in relation to my work as Uniting Learning Network Director for the Uniting Church in Australia, NSW/ACT Synod. First on the list is Steve Taylor‘s Built For Change: A Practical Theology of innovation and collaboration in leadership. Steve recently took up the role of Principal at the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa’s Knox Centre for Ministry and Leadership, based in Dunedin. That’s where I trained as a minister (1989-1991). Previously Steve was Principal and Director of Missiology at Uniting College of Leadership and Theology in Adelaide. This book’s grounded in the change process he led while Principal in Adelaide, and extends to stories of innovation and change in Australia and New Zealand.

Tonight in Being The Church, the subject Chris Walker and I are teaching at United Theological College this semester, we looked at Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s reflections on disillusionment in his little book “Life Together”. Bonhoeffer must have gone through his own experiences of deep disappointment as he watched colleagues buy into the Nationalist Socialism version of positive Christianity. Here he writes about the challenges facing not only institutional bodies like the German Evangelical Church, but also locally formed communities such as the underground seminary he had formed in Finkenwalde.

It’s a week now since I returned from a week spent at the Uniting Church in Australia’s triennial Assembly, held at University of Western Australia. I was there as a member elected by the NSW/ACT Synod, joining approximately 265 members of the Uniting Church in Australia, along with office holders, Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress members, youthful members. Here’s a few personal highlights and reflections from the week, weaving together experiences from Australia and NZ.

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About Duncan

Postkiwi Duncan Macleod is posting on life, faith and culture in Australia, drawing from his involvement in the creative industry, the Uniting Church, the blogosphere, generational research, and the emerging church. Duncan lives in Sydney, NSW, Australia, where he works as the UME Director of the Uniting Learning Network with the Uniting Church in Australia. He is also editor of The Inspiration Room, a site focusing on creative work from around the world, particularly from the advertising, design, film and digital production industries.